New interview with Charlotte and MLive.com

The Go-Go’s are back on the road, and this time the all-girl band is in celebration mode: It’s been 30 years since their groundbreaking “Beauty and the Beat” album was released. At the time, new wave on the rise and ladies like Blondie’s Deborah Harry, Romeo Void’s Deborah Iyall and the Waitresses’ Patty Donahue were at the forefront of the genre. The Go-Go’s became the first all-female band to top Billboard’s charts in 1981.
“We came totally organically…we didn’t have anyone putting us together, telling us what to wear. No one else had one that, as far as a group of women,” guitarist Charlotte Caffey, who co-wrote most of the songs on “Beat,” told MLive from their tour bus.

It’s been more than five years since the girls hit the road — and they’re making sure they stay there this go-round.

“It’s going well,” Caffey said about this tour. “But what happened last night is when Linda’s [lead singer Belinda Carlisle] voice got very strange. Belinda went to a voice doctor. But we’ve had enough canceling of tours. It’s actually going very well, really awesome. The audience has been great.”

The Go-Go’s, who play DTE Energy Theatre tonight with the B-52’s, will be playing all of their classics like “Vacation,” “Our Lips are Sealed” and, of course, “We Got the Beat.” They’re also adding a few album cuts they haven’t played in a while; Caffey was particularly excited about including “Lust to Love.”

“We haven’t played it in a long time, we’re doing the original version and the audience really loves it,” she said.

The Go-Go’s formed in 1978 in L.A. and started off playing small venues around town. Three decades later, they’re known as pioneers — something they’re still adjusting to.

“All I can say, being young people being in a band, writing songs that we felt were great…we never felt that years later we’d be selling out shows. We’re really loving it. It’s amazing,” Caffey said.

So, can we expect some new Go-Go’s material soon? Don’t count it out.

“We have spoken about that. We’ve started something….but our rehearsal schedule is really demanding. We weren’t able to work on the songs we wanted to.”

But, “you never know with this bunch. I know we all want to, but there’s never enough time.”